Joy and Misery
by This Grill is not a Home
Summary: "They will know the joy of creation, and the misery of destruction."


**a (hopefully) quick thing cause ive hit writers block on a few other stories**

Jack could have seen the fire from miles away, and since he is naturally just curious, and couldn't really die, he decides, hell, why not go investigate the burning building.

He was in town, preparing for a massive snow storm in a week, right after Halloween for all of the kids. A nice little treat so they could all spend time eating candy and having snow ball fights. From what he has heard, there was supposed to be a new haunted house opening up, and they are all going to sneak out to go see it.

It is when he is flying over the parking lot that he notices a figure standing off far to the side, near the forest. He can only vaguely make out their shape, but as soon as he does, he's zipping over there, shooting ice bolts as he does.

"Pitch!" he growls, landing on the ground near him.

He may still be weak, but he has managed to dodge all of Jack's attempts to harm him, and has gone as far as to casually sit on one of the chunks of ice. "Well Jack... It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"What are you doing here?" Jack points his staff menacingly at Pitch, who ignores it with a gentle smile.

"Why dear, you don't need to be so hostile. As long as there is fear and nightmares in the world, I shall continue to exsist. That's something you and the rest of the guardians will never be able to get rid of, as long as there are still cruel people in the world who take advantage of the niativity of children."

Jack only stares at him in reture.

"Or do you mean in this specific location?" Pitch doesn't wait for a response. "I was checking up on an old project of mine. I had almost forgotten about it until I heard someone mention something about a fright attraction."

"What project?"

"Oh something old, before I created the black sand. I never thought it would work, but lo and behold, it has." Pitch gets up and walks over to the parking lot, where someone has appeared.

They are burnt, and unconscious, but Pitch only takes a moment to ensure they are alive.

"You can come out, you know. I'm not going to hurt you."

Jack wants to snort at the comment, but can't bring himself to. Of all the stories he has heard about Pitch Black, never once has one of them been physically hurting someone.

One by one, five children appeared. Their shapes couldn't exactly be made out, but they were grey, small, and each one of them had a different mask on.

Pitch frowns. "I never it would have gone this far. It seems he is still not ready to let go." He looks over to a window in the building and sees a yellow figure standing there being engulfed by flames.

For a few moment, it flickers into a man dressed in purple, but the figure disappears all together.

Jack crouches down to look at one of them.

The one with a white mask with red lips and cheeks, and two purple stripes looks over to him.

Jack, for a brief moment, feels a sharp pain in his stomache, and swears he can hear screaming and something splattering. He doesn't know where he got them from, but Pitch is holding balloons.

He hands each of them one. "Go on now, you've all been here long enough."

They all suddenly disappear, leaving their masks behind. The balloons float up into the sky, each of them reflecting the rising sun.

Pitch and Jack both watch them until they are tiny dots, invisable among the clouds. Jack swore there is a tiny smile on Pitch's lips.

"Why?" Jack asks. The dawning on what the figures were had hit him like a ton of brick. Each of them were dead, murdered horrifically by the man he had seen in the building window.

"I wanted to see what would happen if one man, an already wicked, twisted man, and been turned into a living nightmare. I wanted to see if it would spread to others as an endless chain of fear."

He looks into the window were once again, the figures appears as the purple man. "I wanted them to know the joy of creation, and the misery of destruction. The creation of the monster who kept them ere, and the misery of the destruction of their fear."


End file.
